They Don't Understand
by Zellona
Summary: Character study written for school. Nurse Ratched may seem cold, but she has her reasons. Just what was Nurse Ratched thinking after McMurphy broke that window? A short journal entry reveals that the stone-hearted nurse we know may be a little more human than we thought. Re-posted so my English teacher wouldn't think I was plagiarizing.


**A/N: Hello all you awesome people! It's been... how long since I last posted something? Almost two years. Wow. For any of my followers reading this, I commend you for sticking with me this long. I wrote this for an English assignment since we studied this book in class this year, and the only reason I was able to do it in one sitting is because I realized that what I was writing was, essentially,** **fan fiction. I had a lot more fun after that. :3**

 **For the assignment, we had to write a journal entry from the point of view of either McMurphy or Nurse Ratched about an important moment in the story. I, obviously, chose Nurse Ratched. I'll have a more detailed explanation at the end of the story for those that are interested, but for now, enjoy the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest;_ the events and ****characters of the book are all courtesy of** **Ken Kesey. This is just my own interpretation of one of his characters.**

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 _ **They Don't Understand**_

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It's been a while since I last wrote in my personal journal instead of an official log, but due to recents events I've decided that writing about today's events is the best way to organize thoughts I'd rather keep to myself. After all, it has taken a lot of time and hard work for me, as a woman, to earn the strong respect and appreciation of my colleagues, and I'm not about to lose that by letting them see how rattled I am.

When I came into work this morning, there was nothing unusual about any of the patients' behavior to suggest what was about to happen. The day started off like any other day; Mr. Randle P. McMurphy had finally quieted down with the knowledge that, as long as he continues to show signs that he is sick, we can keep him in the ward as long as necessary, and the other patients soon followed his example. It should have ended there, but it didn't.

I had hoped the patients would show some remorse for their rebellious behavior, but when none of them did, I knew something had to be done to prevent this behavior from reappearing, and after careful consideration with my colleagues we resolved to take away the Tub Room as punishment. This is always the hardest part of my job. As a nurse in a psychiatric ward, it is my duty to help these sick men learn how to function in society again, even if that means having to take away privileges and enforce policies that make them unhappy. I am not a villain, but no matter how many times I say the words, "It is _entirely for your own good_ that we enforce discipline and order," I know that is what they'll always see me as. Mr. McMurphy proved that all too clearly today when he smashed his fist through the window of the Nurses' Station after my announcement.

I was just about to conclude the meeting after wrapping up my announcement of their lost privilege when Mr. McMurphy calmly stood up and began walking toward me. I hadn't expected that he would do anything, and all I could do was sit there in stunned silence as he ran his hand through the glass and then proceed to brush shards of the shattered window off me.

"I'm sure sorry, ma'am," he had said to me, "That window glass was so spick and span I completely forgot it was there," but there isn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he knew exactly what he was doing.

I'm not sure how or why, but Randle McMurphy has once again become the manipulative, undisciplined man he was when he first came onto our ward. He broke that glass to let everyone know he's back to his rebellious ways, and he won't stop until the big, bad villainess in nurse's clothing is put in her place, because they don't understand. They don't understand that they are here because they are too ill to make healthy decisions for themselves. They don't understand that we have our group meetings and strict ward policies because we need to keep them in a healthy environment in order for them to learn how to be responsible members of society. Most of all, they don't understand the pain of a thankless job helping patients who see your aid as tyranny.

They don't understand, and they never will.

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 **A/N: I actually finished and published this a while ago, but realized that there was the possibility (however unlikely) that my teacher might use a plagiarism-detecting program and think I copied this off the internet, so I waited until I got the grade back to repost this.**

 **It took me about 4 hours from beginning to end, but I had fun doing it!** **Nurse Ratched is such an interesting character. Sure, she's an infuriating bitch and I hate almost every word that comes out of her mouth, but she _is_ just doing her job, even if she isn't nice while doing it.**

 **To put it simply, I chose Nurse Ratched for my assignment because I've always loved trying to unlock characters, and I knew it would be fun to get inside the head of the least congenial character I've come across since Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter.**

 **This assignment is actually just a part of a much bigger project for my English class. At my school, 11th grade English classes don't take a final exam at the end of the year. Instead, we have to take different writing assignments and improve and expand them before turning them all in as a portfolio. I kinda like it, since I can choose which works I want to revise, even if it means more work. This fic here was the creative work I had to revise, and I'm proud of it.**

 **I also applied to take a creative writing class next year, but despite submitting what I thought was an awesome writing sample I heard back from them today that I was rejected. Getting rejected stings quite a bit, but writing something I'm proud of makes me feel much better.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think!**

 **(P.S. I got a 91 on this!)**

 **~ Zellona**


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